Breeding Dogs for Dummies (Paperback)

by Richard G. Beauchamp (Author) "So what's the big deal with breeding dogs?..." (more)
Key Phrases: living puppies, entire breeding program, type tracker, Beau Monde, United States, Great Dane (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Packed with tips on breeding champion-quality puppies

Start a breeding program that will ensure your dogs’ health and enhance their lineage

Breeding puppies involves many responsibilities, but it can also be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences you ever have. This friendly guide provides all the information you need to create a positive breeding environment for your dogs so that they produce happy, healthy offspring.

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• Keep your pet healthy and content – the Dummies Way™

From the Back Cover
Packed with tips on breeding champion-quality puppies

Start a breeding program that will ensure your dogs’ health and enhance their lineage

Breeding puppies involves many responsibilities, but it can also be one of the most enjoyable and rewarding experiences you ever have. This friendly guide provides all the information you need to create a positive breeding environment for your dogs so that they produce happy, healthy offspring.

The Dummies Way

• Explanations in plain English
• "Get in, get out" information
• Icons and other navigational aids
• Tear-out cheat sheet
• Top ten lists
• A dash of humor and fun

Get smart! @www.dummies.com

• Attention pet owners!
• Get free Dummies Daily™ e-mail newsletters
• Sign up for tips on a variety of pets
• Keep your pet healthy and content – the Dummies Way™

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (May 20, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764508725
• ISBN-13: 978-0764508721
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #83,029 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only for those who want to breed top dogs, June 2, 2002

By	"labluver" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews

Beauchamp, a highly successful breeder and judge, makes very sure your motives are right for breeding top class dogs and makes no bones (pun not intended!) about discouraging anyone who thinks they can do this for profit. Takes you step by step through finding the right mentor and selecting the best possible stock to establish a bloodline that will produce typey, healthy and mentally sound puppies. He makes genetics really easy to understand and how important they are in developing a breeding program. I show my own dogs now and I'm not actually a beginner but far from achieving the goals I've set. This book will be kept handy for a lot of years to come I'm sure!
I think what is especially responsible about this book is that it not only cautions against breeding without making sure suitable homes are waiting but gives some great tips on how to go about doing it.

34 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Complete Rubbish, July 4, 2004

By	"business_bee" - See all my reviews

I bought this book thinking it would be as good as the other for dummies titles I've read, but I was wrong. It seems to me as if this book was written by a novice.

For instance, in one of the sidebars (titled "Old wives tales"), the author states that "the dominant gene prevails" and breeding a dog of one trait to another with the opposite trait (like tall to short for example) will never produce offspring that's in between. He obviously hasn't heard of co-recessive or co-dominant genes or gene mutations. In the same article, he also claims inter-species matings is impossible- I guess he's never heard of or seen a Bengal Cat, Liger or Mule. His statement about breeding dogs to their wilder counterparts like wolves will never better their hunting skills is also false (there have been many instances of dogs mating with wolves and the resulting puppies had traits of both parents, the controvertial American Indian Dog is one example). Perhaps he should have taken the chance to explain how these myths came by instead of proving his lack of knowledge by being a cocky know-it-all.

The rest of the book is nothing but articles concerning dogs and dog breeding in general- the only detailed articles (and there are a lot of them) are the ones bragging about the sucess of the author's breeding stock, the countries his breeding stock has travelled to and his credentials. For example, he talks about how important matching pedigrees is, how he does it all the time, how successful he is at doing it, but never tells us how we should go about it.

There is nothing in this book on choosing a potential owner for the puppies, only a couple of paragraphs saying that people should avoid giving out their dogs to those who only way one because the breed is a latest fad. Perhaps a sample question list would have been useful.

The fact that such a reputed publisher would let a narcissist who doesn't even understand basic genetics write a "How To" book worries me. A novice breeder would have better luck finding out about dog breeding in a general pet care book.

Please do not buy this book. The only time it'll come into use is when you run out of newspapers to toilet train your puppies with.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breeding shouldn't be left to Dummies!, July 25, 2004

A Kid's Review

I don't think this book will encourage people to breed their dogs. On the contrary, I think it will discourage many people, once they learn how much time and effort it takes to properly raise a litter. Once all the people who wanted to breed based on a flight of fancy or stupid reasons (i.e. I want my kids to see the miracle of birth) have been weeded out, the people left are ones who want to breed dogs because they want to improve the breed. And, might I add, there aren't too many of these people.
I found this book well-written and helpful. It's a useful guide for someone who is seriously considering breeding, people who need a reality check of how much work it takes to raise a litter, and people who need immediate help on raising a litter.